The Megose Incident

A sinister smile spread on Irina's otherwise exhausted face. "Fuck it, we ball!"

The tension thickened as Leonard entered the corridor, he stared deeply at the box of ashes in Dunn Smith's hands and exhaled in exasperation.

Then, his expression turned firm. "Captain, I'm afraid that it's too late. We have to deal with Megose and her baby immediately. Otherwise, the whole of Tingen will suffer terrible losses. This isn't something that can be avoided just by evacuating the citizens around us. I know that you've already sent such a telegram."

Dunn knitted his eyebrows and turned to look at him, asking with unusual stern, "Are you sure that the situation has worsened to such an extent?"

"Yes," Leonard confirmed, before continuing with a troubled tone. "In no more than three minutes, Megose will undergo a mutation, and her child will descend upon us."

At the same time, he glanced at the thick, large blood vessel wrapped around Klein's hand and said, "Sealed Artifact 2-105? Let me use it. I can handle its abilities better."

"Alright." Without hesitation, the seer handed it over.

It was then that Irina realized Klein had come back from Chanis Gate. She stood up slowly focusing on her surroundings, trying her best to ignore and avoid the heavy gazes from her teammates. Let them worry as much as they want, I have other problems to deal with.

Dunn tugged at his collar and patted down his windbreaker. He spoke with a determined tone, "I'll head out with Saint Selena's ashes first. Come out after ten seconds; remember, come out only after you finish counting to ten. Then, regardless of my condition, direct your strongest attacks at Megose and her baby without wasting any time."

His gaze lingered on Irina longer than it should have. Then, with a firm nod, he turned and headed out towards the partition.

"Captain..." Klein called out, his voice dry and cracking.

"Captain!" Leonard shouted, followed shortly by the usually quiet Royale and Frye.

Dunn stopped, glancing over his shoulder. He had a gentle expression as he said with his mellow voice, "Don't worry about me. I'm not alone. Adelaide, Dwayne, and Hitte are all fighting alongside me, no matter what kind of danger I face."

He paused for a moment before speaking, his gray eyes gentle. "There's no need to be too nervous as well. We're guarding Tingen City."

His lips curved into a faint, familiar smile before he disappeared through the partition, his black windbreaker trailing behind.

"Captain!" They all shouted at the same time, their tears falling uncontrollably, but Dunn didn't slow down. But Irina's gaze held no desperation—only a cold determination. He will NOT die today. I will make sure of it.

But, she closed her eyes briefly. Taking a deep breath as she focused solely on the upcoming fight. We are guardians, but also a bunch of miserable wretches that are constantly fighting against threats and madness.

Beep! Beep! Beep! The telegram set up in the Captain's office suddenly came to life, seemingly having received a new telegram. Unnecessary as of right now.

None let themselves be distracted by it, as the majority of them counted the movements of the second hand on the clock as their bloodshot eyes welled up with tears. Fuck those 10 seconds, I don't have to worry about heavy repercussions anyway.

Dunn Smith carried the silver, bone-like square box into the reception hall with a solemn expression. Megose, who was pulling out clump after clump of blond hair, tore a wound that was deep enough to show her bones. As if suddenly triggered, she abruptly stood and pointed at the Captain in his black windbreaker. She loudly shrieked, "You want to kill my child!"

Her voice rose higher and higher, "You want to kill my child!"

Boom! The shrill and terrifying voice reverberated. The low-sequence Nighhawks felt like being struck in the head with a sledgehammer. They forgot to count as strong headaches hit them, making them all feel dizzy.

Irina subconsciously looked sideways, seeing the corner of her fellow Nighthaws eyes tinted crimson. The tip of the noses, the corners of the lips, all covered in fresh blood. The faces were extremely pale, their bodies wavering, losing strength and almost falling down.

My state might be better, but I'm still not at my best... Irina reined back her thoughts and focused on the scene before her. Taking advantage of her teammates' state, she took small steps forward, preparing to enter the battle at a moment's notice.

Struck by the terrifyingly sharp voice, Dunn Smith's deep gray eyes filled with red veins. Every single strand crystal clear and almost bulging.

The blood vessels in his face protruded out, every single one of them like a poisonous snake. Rivulets of fresh blood flowed down his ears and eyes, staining his face and clouding his vision.

A strong wave of dizziness hit him, yet, his right hand did not pause; his strong willpower drove him to press down on Saint Selena's urn and open the lid. Inside the box, there was a deep darkness only interrupted by a fine resplendent sand. The scene was eerily beautiful, as if the starry night sky itself had been stored in a box.

The surroundings suddenly became dark, and the darkness engulfed the entire reception hall. In the air, countless black, cold, and smooth threads began appearing and floating around.

They surged towards Megose and entangled her almost instantly.

Megose had already torn out her right eyeball in frustration. It hung by a thin cord of flesh underneath her eye socket. She stared at Dunn Smith with hatred as she roared, "You must DIE!"

He won't, you bitch!Irina sprinted forward, uncaring of the countdown. A simple ring appeared in her hand and an intricate circle behind the captain, meant to soften the upcoming impact. 

Bang! Dunn was cast away by a formless force and slammed into the opposite wall with a much slower speed, leaving a small indent in it, but otherwise not being majorly injured.

He tightly held onto Saint Selena's urn for dear life, making sure it didn't fall to the ground.

Those countless black, cold, and smooth threads tightened and bound Megose firmly to the spot. No matter how many blight-tainted flames rose up suddenly, or how her skin began to secrete a liquid that smelt like brimstone, neither of those defenses dealt any damage to the threads holding onto her.

The countdown reached zero.

Klein, Leonard, Royale, and Frye simultaneously dashed out through the partition. The seer holding onto a warm thin gold slice, the poet already aiming his five fingers with the Blood Vessel Thief wound around his left wrist at Megose, and the other two instead aiming their revolvers at the enemy's figure.

Megose, who no longer looked human, struggled as flesh protruded from both sides of her shoulders; a mixture of blood vessels and green veins resembling a child's head. Above those two mutations, cracks rapidly spread and seemingly turned into a pair of eyes.

By then, Irina stood firmly in place in front of the captain, somehow shielding him. With a new faintly glowing ring in one hand and a bigger, intricate one at her feet, she prepared to cast her attack. She bid her time by shooting at the creature in front of her with her revolver, not inflicting much damage.

Noticing danger approaching, Megose opened her mouth wider; the corner of her lips cracking all the way up to her ears.

At that moment, Leonard clenched his left hand into a fist as his wrist made a half-turn. His pale face turned livid, and the vessels protruded like bunch of tiny poisonous worms.

"..." Megose's Blaspheme Curse was left stuck in her throat as it came to a sudden halt, having lost the ability to evoke them due to 2-105.

Klein seized the opportunity and muttered an ancient Hermes word in a deep voice. "Light!"

Irina's eyes finally moved from Megose's figure and focused on the charm. Her spirit vision was flooded by multiple warm colors before being immersed in a sea of light. So that's how it works! Observing the way they work is a completely other experience than just reading about it; I can copy that!

She closed her eyes, processing the outer works of the charm. The light became blinding even for her as it mimicked a miniature version of the sun.

The reception hall instantly turned transparent as darkness and gloominess vanished simultaneously. The black fine threads that entangled Megose shrank as though they were instinctively avoiding something.

But before the creature obtained her freedom, her vision got swarmed by warm, purifying sunlight.

At some point in the fight, a hole had ruptured in the ceiling of the Blackthorn Security Company, going all the way to the rooftop of the third floor making the bright blue sky and glaring sunlight shine through.

The thin gold slice combined with the sunlight above Megose immediately expanded in size. Going from a spherical light to a sphere with countless flames spiraling around it.

Rumble! The entire building shook vigorously, and the glass windows on the nearby streets shattered.

Irina held back her tears and looked through squinted eyes. She saw that the light had dispersed, but the flames were still soaring. Among them, many black ashes danced in the air. Megose and the baby in her stomach were nowhere to be seen. Just like the coffee table, water glass, newspaper, and sofa in the area.

Is it over? She could but only hope. No. What am I even thinking?! She berated herself mentally. I have to protect Klein and Leonard now!

The circle beneath her activated and greatly increased her speed as she leaped to her left, at Klein's side just as he abruptly rolled to the left. While still moving, she raised her right arm with the palm facing outwards and a big intricate blue circle appeared just as, seemingly out of nowhere, a long arm with an extremely sharp white bone blade cleaved the spot.

Whoosh! The brutal force of the attack was fully blocked by the blue shield, but Irina, not having had enough time to steady herself, flew back a couple of meters together with Klein and hit the ground hard. Shit. I forgot to slow down the impact.

The monstrosity had an abnormal beauty as it floated in mid-air. It was unbelievably fast and almost impossible to dodge its attacks, had it not been for Irina's knowledge about the future, Klein would have left the fight with a deep gash in his chest, if not worse.

As the slash slid off the shield and hit the ground, a big hole was created, showing the lower floor as multiple pieces of debris flew off toward the other Nighthawks, forcing Royale and Frye to dodge quickly.

At the end of the white bone blade, a figure rapidly flew out. If it wasn't for the bump on its stomach, perhaps no one could identify that creature as Megose.

Her hair and dress had been burned entirely. The skin on her face and body was charred black and was peeling off, flake after flake. Her nose had melted, leaving only two small black holes behind. Her eyeballs were nowhere to be seen but faint, white flames danced in the empty sockets.

The two 'heads' that had appeared on both sides of Megose's shoulders had been burned away. Her left arm had become the white bone blade that she was holding. How can that thing look demonic, yet holy?!

Creak! As the ground shook, Megose ignored the other Nighhawks, their guns not inflicting any type of damage, as well as the black, cold, and smooth fine threads that were hurtling towards her again. She phased over to Irina and Klein, aiming the white bone blade at Klein's neck, ready to slash down. Irina struggled to stand up as she simultaneously created multiple rings on the ground, already knowing where the monster's next attack would be headed.

Suddenly, she heard a voice that contained a rich blasphemous tone. "Submit!"

Leonard lifted his left hand and aimed his palm at Megose. The Sealed Artifact 2-105 wrapped around his wrist had turned from a thick pale, blood-tainted blood vessel into a crimson 'intestine' that had expanded to the point of looking ready to explode.

With the aid of the Blood Vessel Thief, Leonard had successfully stolen Megose's Blaspheme Curse and was attempting to use her power to seize control of her. That's going to make her mad.

Under the influence of the Blaspheme Curse, Megose bent her waist, her knees constantly trembling. Her motions came to a halt as the surrounding black threads surrounded her as though they had found a delicious prey.

Multiple rings appeared behind Leonard as Irina finally managed to stand up while Klein took the opportunity to roll in the opposite direction, leaving a faint trail of fresh crimson blood behind him. A minor injury is fine, as long as he wasn't sliced in half by that thing.

Irina turned back towards the monster, shortly observing its complexion before her eyes widened. With the aid of the circles on the ground, she rushed forward at a much faster pace than before, a blue ring began forming in her left hand.

Boom! Megose's head exploded on its own, her charred skin and flesh flying in all directions. Her headless body seized the opportunity and shook off the effect of the Blaspheme Curse.

Boom! The monster's charred body transformed into a projectile that shot toward the temporarily frozen Leonard.

At that moment, Dunn Smith was still holding onto Saint Selena's urn tightly. His face was abnormally pale, and the black, cold threads that were created were still short of surrounding Megose.

Irina reached Leonard just in time, she lifted her arm with the palm facing outward and a much bigger blue circle protected them both from the heavy attack.

Creak! Megose slammed into the shield, the force of it throwing both of them to the wall. She tried to tone down the impact with some decelerating rings, but they weren't enough. They both crashed against the wall and it cracked with multiple bricks flying outwards.

Irina heard as some of Leonard's bones cracked, and she despised that sound with all her heart. Shit! That wench! She spat a mouthful of fresh blood onto the ground as she tried to shake off her dizziness and clear her clouded vision.

She tried to stand again, but her legs gave out beneath her, almost making her fall. A hand pressed on her back, trying to steady her. She turned slightly and was unsurprisingly met with Leonard's form. Rivulets of blood flowed down his mouth, eyes, and ears. "Ah..." He's still conscious. That's... good.

Megose raised her white bone blade, but the countless black threads that emanated from Saint Selena's urn enveloped her again and were about to bind her to the ground.

Something suddenly sounded in the deep, dark, yet quiet room. "Waaa!" The cry of a baby echoed through the destroyed reception.

Ah... I hate children.